16-11 - Redaction of Confidential Information in Arrest or Investigative Reports Filed with the Los Angeles Superior Court

REDACTION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION IN

ARREST OR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS

FILED WITH THE LOS ANGELES SUPERIOR COURT

The Supervising Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court advised law enforcement agencies that effective June 1, 2016, the Court may accept or reject a police report and/or an arrest or investigative report submitted in support of a criminal complaint, indictment or information, or in support of a search or arrest warrant if the report contains confidential information of a victim or witness.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has been responsible and will continue to be responsible for redacting all documents received from law enforcement agencies before submitting them to the Court.

Law enforcement agencies will be responsible for redacting victim and witness information on documents that law enforcement file directly with the court (i.e., a search warrant and attachments).  The best practice should be to submit copies of both redacted and non-redacted documents to the Court and the Court will return the non-redacted documents to law enforcement at the time of the submission.

Pursuant to Penal Code section 964(b), the type of information to be redacted is any personal information of the victim or witness, such as address, telephone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts, driver’s license or California Identification Card number, social security number, date of birth, place of employment, employee identification number, mother’s maiden name, demand deposit account number, savings or checking account number, or credit card number.       

Information regarding the content of this newsletter may be directed to Field Operations Support Services at (323) 890-5411.